now, today, current (adverb)
"A great many of Chimalpahin's entries begin with the word axcan, meaning in this context 'today.' It gradually becomes clear that many entries so beginning were not written on the actual day of the events narrated; surely not those in the early part of the work, occurring when Chimalphain was still a child (though these entries may have been copied from others which in fact were written closer to the events). Not infrequently we see evidence that some or even the bulk of an entry was written years after the fact. In view of its use in the original one might be justified in rendering this kind of axcan as 'at this point,' or leaving it out altogether, as Rafael Tena quite justifiably does at time in his 2001 Spanish edition of these texts. But since the word is an important item in the stylistics of Chimalpahin and of Nahuatl annals in general, and it is lacking in many entries, we have felt it best to give the reader the full information, putting 'today' every time that this sort of axcan appears."
axcan motene hua, Totolâ xinticatca = a:xca:n motenehua To:tolan xinticatca = now called Totolan, where it is flat
Ascan jueves = Today Thursday (Coyoacan, 1573)
In axcan: at ie nellaxcan = Now, already at this very time (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
asca ic 8 ilhuitl mani de Junios 1586 años = today, the 8th of June, 1586 (Tlatelolco, 1586)
in axcan tlatoani = el actual señor (centro de México, s. XVI)
çenca choca tlaocoyatlacat ascan = Ahora lloran mucho por tristeza.
a:xan = axcan
A:xan naja niquiga ne a:mat ga:tan at. = Ahora yo llevo la carta debajo del aqua. (Sonsonate, El Salvador, Nahuat or Pipil, s. XX)